He added that Orlando is a little different because entertainment meccas like Disney World and Universal Studios create a diverse customer mix depending on the season.

“We think most markets are moving towards multicultural now,” Colabuono acknowledged. “That’s we have a full training program. We have a full product line and we’ve had a great response to our services. We do constant training, as well, across our services.”

He said training like this is vital because different ethnicities have different types of hair that each require special product lines in order to achieve the look desired.

In addition to Orlando and Birmingham, Fantastic Sams recently bought a region back from a master franchisor that included Huntsville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn. Continuing in the Southeast, the company is also actively pursuing Charleston, metro Atlanta –which Colabuono said is Fantastic Sams’ cornerstone – and Columbus, Ga.

He added that Fantastic Sams has about 35 salons within the Atlanta section of the Southeast market, but the region could easily hold 100 salons or even more.

Overall, Fantastic Sams sees potential to grow in all of its current markets: the Western market has about 300 salons; the Midwest has between 400 and 500 salons; and the Eastern region has about 400 salons.

Colabuono said one of his initiatives since joining Fantastic Sams in 2006 is to ultimately buy back all of the company’s master licenses. He said that Fantastic Sams has completed about 15 transactions and has about 14 or 15 to go, which it expects to complete during the next two to five years.

“We want to take a complicated system and make it very simple where the franchisor is supporting the franchisees in the traditional sense without a middle man, so to speak, in the way,” he added.